This article focuses on defining terms the commonly used payroll industry and how they are used in the ClockOn system.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
A
ABA: This refers to a standard file format that is used for quickly uploading employee payments to banks. This is also referenced as an "EFT file" in ClockOn.
Accruals: A generic term for an accumulation and can be considered as a a simple record or as a means of tracking compensation for an employee. For the purposes of ClockOn, this is usually related to leave entitlements with the rate of accrual set in the Rule Set and the storage on the employees card file.
Active Licenses: This information is located in the Subscription manager, this details the number of employees that are currently counted in the subscription license count.
Activity Summary: A report that is useful for showing a breakdown of employee rostered and worked hours accompanied by their costed breakdowns allowances and paid amounts. This is run on a per period basis.
Additional Annual Leave: This is a ClockOn specific leave category that is used to for granting additional leave for employees that fit in the "Shift Worker" category.
Additional Tax: This is an allowance type that allows the system to allocate a larger amount of the employee's gross payment to tax.
After Tax: Usually referenced with allowances that are paid either by or to the employee after the tax and super amounts have been worked out at payroll.
Allowance Set: A list of allowances assigned to an award template that can be used to apply to a range of employees on mass. Changes to these templates reflect across all linked employees.
Approve: A feature in the time sheet screen to tell the system that you accept the warning condition and are ok with the system applying payroll rules to process. In some instances it is better to adjust the shift detail to avoid issues at payroll.
Australian Business Number (ABN): The unique identifier for businesses operating in Australia, this is used in conjunction with the Branch Number an BMS Id for identifying the ClockOn instance for STP submissions.
Auto Fill: A feature in the time sheet screen to auto-complete records based on the shift details.
Award: Provides containers for ClockOn rule sets, rate sets, and allowance sets to help with the automation of payroll conditions.
B
Bank Clearing House: Refers to a financial organisation such as a bank or credit union that can act as an intermediary for transferring funds. These are used to facilitate the ABA file uploads to easily disburse payroll amounts to staff from the business bank account.
Before Tax: Refers to payroll amounts that have yet to have tax amounts calculated and deducted.
BMS Id: A BMS ID (Business Management Software ID) is a unique serial number that identifies your payroll software and is used by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting in Australia. It helps the ATO distinguish data from different payroll solutions and prevents duplicate employee income information by grouping data by your Australian Business Number (ABN), branch, and BMS ID.
Branch Number: Works alongside the ABN to uniquely identify the company with the ATO. Branch numbers allow for additional company segmentation within an ABN. The default value for most businesses is "001" and there are very specific circumstances and requirements for using values above this. ClockOn recommends contacting the ATO for more information.
Breaks (Time sheets): A time sheet "break" is a rest period that the employee takes, usually as a working entitlement as part of an agreement or award. Breaks can be considered as either paid (creates a unique costing split) or unpaid (excludes the time from the costings creating a gap between the other paid costings).
C
Casual: This relates to casual employment, which is a job offer without a firm commitment to ongoing or indefinite work. This acts like a piecemeal agreement where the employer offers work and the employee can accept or reject the offered hours. Employees on these agreements typically do not accrue leave entitlements (with the exception of long service leave) and are instead compensated with a higher hourly rate
Casual Leave Loading: Also referred to as Flat Loading in the ClockOn rule set, this relates to the percentage of wage that the employee is entitled to for their standard normal hourly rate. for example if the employee's standard base rate was $20/hour and they are entitled to an additional 25% their casual loaded rate for normal hours would be $25/hour (20 x 1.25). Casual loading may or may not be applicable when the employee is receiving for penalty and overtime hourly rates. We recommend referring to the relevant awarded or agreement for accurate information.
Cessation Type: A set list of ATO defined termination reasons. This reference is required for STP submissions after the employment termination is complete.
Child Support (Deduction): A mandatory payroll deduction made by an employer from the employee's after-tax income as directed by Services Australia under Section 45 of the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988. This is usually a fixed dollar amount and Protected Earnings Amount (PEA) requirements apply.
Child Support (Garnishee): A Child Support Garnishee is a more forceful collection method of "Child Support (Deduction)" that implements Section 72A of Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988. It allows the agency to recover unpaid child support directly from an individual’s income or assets, including wages, bank accounts, or other financial sources. These amounts can be done as a lump sum, periodic payments or as a percentage of income. Also to note, the employee is not covered under a Protected Income Amount clause and this can take priority over other deductions including court orders.
ClockOn Desktop: The now-legacy version of ClockOn, this product used a local product database installation with additional client installs to access the system. This product is still in use by customers, and it's functionality is progressively being worked into the online version.
ClockOn GO: A mobile app that is available on both Android and iOS that can allow employees to clock their work times, view their leave entitlements, view their rosters, request leave, send messages to their managers, and view/email copies of their payslips.
Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP): An Australian government program that allowed unemployed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to exchange unemployment benefits for wages in community-managed work and training activities. This program has since been discontinued in favour of Community Development Program (CDP) and again by Remote Jobs and Economic Development Program (RJED).
Compassionate Leave: Also referred to as Bereavement Leave, this is an entitlement under the National Employment Standards (NES) that allows employees time off work following the death, or a life-threatening illness or injury, of a member of their immediate family or household.
Contractor: In the Australian payroll context, a contractor is an individual or business engaged to perform work independently under a commercial agreement, rather than as an employee. Contractors typically operate with their own ABN, invoice for services, use their own tools, and manage their own tax, insurance, and superannuation obligations. They are not entitled to employee benefits such as paid leave or PAYG withholding, unless a voluntary agreement is in place. Misclassifying a contractor as an employee can lead to legal and financial penalties, so businesses must carefully assess the working arrangement using ATO guidelines.
Cost Summary: ClockOn reports that contain information such as the total costed paid hours, along with the gross, tax, GST, and super amounts.
Custom ID: A field that is available in various areas of the system such as locations, departments, leave categories, and employees that allows for a method to enter an alternative ID for use with other systems. a key use case for this is with the import of time sheets using the Timesheet Import Specification.
D
Department: Provides a means to break a location structure into a grouping of sub categories based on the structure of the business for costing purposes. For example; a location can have many areas of work such as front desk, Administration, Management. Employees are assigned a default department for payroll purposes, however, can be assigned to work in other areas where needed.
Disaggregated Gross: A breakdown of an employees total gross earnings that is itemised into its various components, an example would be splitting gross, leave taken, and overtime amounts. This is a requirement for payroll submissions to STP (Phase 2) to provide improved transparency and ensure accurate reporting to the ATO.
Document Template: Used in ClockOn to allow companies to create a consistent set of templates that can be used for issuing items such as employment contracts with pre-filled employee information during the employee onboarding stage.
E
Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA): A formal agreement between an employer and a group of employees that outlines the terms and conditions of employment. These agreements are typically negotiated to cover various aspects such as wages, working hours, leave entitlements, and other workplace conditions. EBAs are designed to create a fair and equitable working environment and ensure that both parties have a clear understanding of their rights and responsibilities. The process of negotiating an EBA often involves discussions between the employer and employee representatives, and once finalized, it must be approved by the relevant industrial relations authority.
Equal Employment Opportunity: This principle ensures that all individuals have a fair chance to compete for employment opportunities without facing discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetic information. It promotes a diverse and inclusive workplace where all employees are treated with respect and dignity, fostering an environment that values individual contributions and encourages equal access to career advancement.
EFT Banking Summary: A report that shows the total net earnings for employees where the payments were set to go to a bank account. This includes the bank details and any additional disbursements to other accounts for each payroll.
Email Payslips: A method of generating and sending the employee payslip documents on mass via the email system.
Employee: An employee in Australia is a person who works under a contract of employment and is entitled to wages, leave, and other benefits as defined by the Fair Work Act 2009
Employee Allowances: Amounts (either in addition or as a reduction), or payment corrections, that are assigned specifically to an employee that are outside of their standard time sheet to costing calculations. These could be anything from bonuses, backpay, or pay disbursements such as child support or amounts to another bank account.
Employee Groups: A method of controlling the access that employees have when using the employee self-service functions in the ClockOn system, such as ClockOn GO and the employee portal.
Employee Onboarding: A process of adding a minimal set of information when entering employees into the ClockOn system, and sending a request to the employees to complete their own personal details. This is expanded on with the ClockOn Pro module to assist with items such as contract generation and employee right to work checks.
Employee Portal: Additional employee self-service features that are available with the ClockOn Pro module, some include items include, advanced leave request bookings, leave approval management, incident tracking, the ability to
Employer: A person or entity that engages one or more individuals to perform work under a contract of employment, and is responsible for meeting legal obligations under the Fair Work Act 2009. These obligations include paying correct wages, providing entitlements such as leave and superannuation, issuing payslips, maintaining accurate records, and ensuring a safe and fair workplace. The definition of an employer is based on the true nature and practical reality of the working relationship, not just the written terms of a contract, and includes considering how the arrangement operates in practice.
Employment Anniversary: The annual date marking the day an employee commenced work with their employer, often used to calculate entitlements such as leave accruals, service recognition, or performance reviews.
Export: A menu category that encompasses the transfer of data from ClockOn to other systems, this includes items such as; the generation of bank ABA files, STP submissions, SuperStream files (SAFF), data export, and integrations to other systems including XERO and MYOB.
F
Flare Benefits: An employee benefits platform offered by Flare HR, that is designed to provide access to discount codes and savings from local and online retailers, the also offer items such as salary packaging options including novated lease agreements ClockOn provides the option to allow for an integrated (opt-in) signup to the flare platform when using the onboarding feature.
Flat Loading: Generally used for the additional 25% casual loading, this exists as options in the ClockOn rule sets under the Miscellaneous loadings section to provide percentage adjustments on normal and/or overtime/penalty hours.
Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT): a tax paid by employers in Australia on certain non-cash benefits they provide to their employees or their employees’ associates, such as cars, entertainment, or low-interest loans, in addition to their salary or wages
G
Geofence: A virtual boundary that can be set around a ClockOn location that allows for a radius in which clock times can be recorded.
Gross Type: An employment category used for STP, to define whether the employee is considered paid as a standard salary wage agreement, as a closely held payee, voluntary agreement (contractor), working holiday maker, labour hire, or foreign employment.
H
HECS: The Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) is an Australian government initiative that provides a way for students to contribute to the cost of their higher education. This system allows students to defer their tuition fees, which means they do not have to pay upfront. Instead, the cost of their education is added to their income tax when they start earning above a certain threshold. HECS aims to make higher education more accessible, ensuring that financial barriers do not prevent individuals from pursuing their academic goals.
HELP: A newer name for the HECS scheme, this has later been replaced again by the STSL program.
Hourly Rate: The pay rate that an employee earns on a per hour basis. For salaried staff this is the worked our equivalent based from the salary / weeks in the year / working week hours.
HR: Short for Human Resources this refers to items around the management of items relating to employees such as hiring, onboarding, compensation, benefits, leave entitlements, contracts, awards, etc.
I
Industry Hours: A count of hours stored against the employee record that is worked over the employment in an industry, this increments automatically after each payroll is processed and can be used in conjunction with the rate sets to prompt pay increases.
Integration Wizard: A feature to facilitate the transfer of information from ClockOn to other systems. This includes time sheet costings and journal information.
Irregular payroll: Refers to situations where an employee works different hours and days each week, making a consistent work pattern difficult to establish. ClockOn is designed to cater for this using a combination of our time and attendance features, rostering, and award rule set configuration. These items work together to translate raw times into payroll costings for employee payment and STP submissions.
J
Job Keeper: A temporary Australian Government wage subsidy introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic to help businesses retain employees by providing fortnightly payments to eligible employers for each eligible worker.
Journal (Account Id): An reference id that is used with accounting systems to identify accounts. Within ClockOn this is entered within the departments and/or allowances to link payments for journal transfers using the integration wizard
Journal (Credit): reflects the liability or reduction amounts, such as amounts owed to employees, the ATO (for PAYG withholding), or super funds within a journal transfer.
Journal (Debit): Typically reflects payroll expenses, such as wages, superannuation within journal transfers.
Journal (Job Code): Refers to a specific identifier used to allocate payroll costs to a particular job, project, or cost centre within an organisation.
Journal (Tax Code): Refers to the classification applied to payroll-related transactions to ensure correct reporting for Business Activity Statements (BAS) in Australia.
Journal (Tracking Names): Used for the XERO integration for payroll journals to allocate payroll costs to specific segments of a business—such as departments, locations.
Journal Report: provides a detailed record of all payroll-related accounting entries—such as wages, taxes, superannuation, and deductions—allocated to the appropriate general ledger accounts. It helps ensure accurate financial reporting, supports reconciliation between payroll and accounting systems, and enables tracking of labour costs across departments, projects, or cost centres.
K
Kiosk: A ClockOn time and attendance method that allows users to be assigned a PIN that they can use to identify and log their clock times. The app can be installed on a android or iOS tablet.
L
Leave Accrual (Pro-Rata Down): Refers to the process of adjusting a full amount proportionally based on a reduced time period, quantity, or eligibility. In this context this is used to calculate leave entitlements when an employee works less than the full period. For example, if a full-time employee earns 7.6 hours of annual leave per week but works only 50% of the standard hours, their leave accrual would be pro-rated down to 3.8 hours per week to reflect their reduced working hours.
Leave Accrual (Pro-Rata Up): refers to increasing an employee’s entitlements, based on working more hours than the standard schedule. For example, if a part-time employee normally works 20 hours per week and temporarily increases to 30 hours, their leave accruals would be pro-rated up to reflect the higher number of hours worked during that period.
Leave Entitlements: Refers to the specific types and amounts of leave that employees are eligible to take within their employment. These typically include various categories such as annual leave, sick leave, parental leave, and any other forms of leave that may be applicable according to the company's policies or local labor laws. Understanding your leave entitlements is crucial for effectively managing work-life balance and ensuring that you take full advantage of your rights as an employee.
Leave Loading: an additional payment, added to annual leave in Australia to compensate employees for the loss of opportunity to earn overtime or other allowances while on leave. It is commonly provided under awards, enterprise agreements, or employment contracts and must be included in payroll calculations when applicable.
Liability: Refers to a financial obligation that an employer owes, such as wages payable, PAYG withholding, superannuation contributions, or leave accruals, which are recorded in accounting until they are paid or settled.
Loading: refers to an additional payment or percentage added to an employee’s base pay under certain conditions. This includes items such as casual loading, leave loading, shift or penalty loading.
Location: An organisation unit usually to indicate a physical site, that houses the payroll payment details and the department structure.
Long Service Leave: A leave accrual, that is paid to employees (including casuals) who have worked continuously for a long period of time as recognition of their service. The time period in which this becomes a business liability and when the employee is able to take this depends additional factors such as the state/territory, and sometimes registered employee agreement.
M
Manager Category: Refers to a classification used in payroll or HR systems to identify employees who hold managerial roles, often based on their level of responsibility, decision-making authority, or position within the organizational hierarchy.
Minimum Wage: Refers to a legal threshold that an employee must be paid per hour when working for an employer in Australia.
MYOB: An Australian accounting software company that provides cloud-based and desktop solutions for managing payroll, invoicing, expenses, and financial reporting for small to medium-sized businesses.
N
Net Pay: The amount that an employee receives after the payroll has been calculated and taxes and deductions are made.
Non-rostered Shifts: Refers to time sheets that have been clocked without either pre-existing or working week shift times assigned. Still valid from a payroll sense, but typical rounding rules will not apply.
Novated lease: A three-way agreement where an employer takes on the responsibility of making lease payments for an employee’s vehicle from their pre-tax salary, offering potential tax benefits.
O
Occupational Category: refers to the type or level of work an employee performs, such as managerial, professional, technical, or clerical roles. It helps determine pay rates, award coverage, and entitlements.
Onboarding Checklist: A method of building tasks that can be assigned to new employees, managers, or teams to guide them through tasks for onboarding a new employee to the business.
Overtime: Time worked that is considered in excess of what is determined as reasonable based on the employees contract.
Overtime (Periodic): A method of treating time worked across multiple payment periods to only trigger the overtime once a pre-set number of hours has been worked over the timeframe.
Overtime (Rate Sheet): The rules for the rates that the overtime will be paid on when triggered by an overtime condition.
Overtime (Cumulative): A rule where if an employee works over a set number of hours within a single time period (weekly, fortnightly, etc) they are considered to be in overtime after that point.
Overtime (Time Based): Rules that can be used to trigger when an employee works either over a certain number of hours within a shift/day or if they work before or after set times in the day.
P
Parental Leave: Parental leave pertains to the duration during which a caregiver steps away from their job after the arrival of their child. The Australian Government has a scheme for payments, and this is sometimes substituted by the employer as an additional benefit. Employees usually receives these amounts through their standard pay cycle.
Personal Leave: Previously referred to as Sick Leave Refers to time off from work that an employee can take for various personal reasons, which may include medical issues, family matters, or personal emergencies. This type of leave allows employees to manage important life situations while ensuring they can return to their job without penalty.
Payday super: Refers to the process of making superannuation contributions on a regular basis, typically coinciding with payday, or close there to. This ensures that employees are consistently saving for their retirement while also aligning their super contributions with their income schedule. By implementing this system, both employers and employees can effectively manage their financial commitments and ensure that the necessary funds are allocated to retirement savings without delay.
Pay Period: This refers to the specific duration of time for which employees are compensated for their work. It can vary by company and may be weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, or monthly, depending on the organization's payroll schedule and policies.
PAYG Allowance: The PAYG (Pay As You Go) Allowance is a financial provision that allows individuals and businesses to manage their tax obligations by making regular payments throughout the year. This system helps taxpayers avoid a large tax bill at the end of the financial year by spreading their tax liability over the course of the year. The PAYG Allowance is particularly beneficial for those who have fluctuating income, as it provides a structured approach to tax payments.
PAYG Location: An option on the allowances screen that allows users to direct where the amount needs to be allocated to, whether this is based on Wages/Salary, an STP allowance type, Union fees or CDEP.
Pay Higher Of: Refers to instances where there are multiple conditions of payment to the employee that needs to be considered, all need to be assessed and the one that is most beneficial needs to be selected.
Payroll: The system for managing employee compensation, including wages, bonuses, deductions, and tax withholdings. It is essential for ensuring that employees are paid accurately and on time, while also complying with regulations and reporting requirements set by governmental entities. Effective payroll management involves careful record-keeping, timely processing, and addressing any discrepancies that may arise.
Payroll - End Date: This refers to the final date in a payroll period, marking the conclusion of the time frame during which employees' work hours are accounted for, and their earnings are calculated.
Payroll - Payment Date: Usually set on a standard basis (commonly the same or day after the payroll is run) this is the date that the amounts are transferred to the employees to satisfy the employers wages or salaries obligations for time worked during the pay period.
Payroll - Start Date: The date on which the payroll process for employees officially commences, marking the beginning of the pay period for which wages and salaries will be calculated and disbursed.
Payroll Tax: An additional amount that employers are liable to pay when their total taxable wages exceed a specific threshold set by the jurisdiction where their employees work.
Payroll Tax Percent: The rate applied to taxable wages paid by a business above the state or territory’s threshold. This varies depending on the location of the employees.
Payslip: This document provides a detailed summary of an employee's earnings and deductions for a specific pay period. It typically includes information such as the employee's name, identification number, pay rate, hours worked, gross pay, taxes withheld, and net pay.
Penalty: Refers to an additional payment made to an employee for working under conditions that are less favourable than standard hours, such as weekends, public holidays, early mornings, late nights, etc.
Personal Leave: Personal leave refers to a period of time when an employee is permitted to be absent from work for personal reasons. This type of leave can be utilized for various situations such as personal illness, family emergencies, or other personal matters that require attention. It is important for employees to understand their company's policies regarding personal leave, including how to request it, the duration allowed, and any necessary documentation that may be required.
Phone Support: An optional services that can be purchased from the subscription screen that provides access to our dedicated team is available to assist you with any questions or concerns you may have regarding our services.
Primary Manager: In the realm of ClockOn an individual designated as the primary manager for a group of employees is responsible for the effective management of the team. This can include items such as leave approval management, incident reporting assessment, onboarding tasks, etc
Protected Earnings Amount (PEA): A specific sum designed to ensure that individuals retain a certain level of income, safeguarding their financial stability. This amount is crucial for those who may be facing economic challenges, as it allows them to meet essential living costs without falling into financial distress. The PEA acts as a protective measure, ensuring that individuals have a minimum threshold of earnings that cannot be diminished by various deductions or external factors. It is an important concept in financial planning and social welfare systems, aimed at supporting individuals and promoting economic resilience.
Public Holidays: These are specific days throughout the year that are recognized by the government as holidays, during which employees are typically given time off work. Public holidays can vary by country and often commemorate significant historical events, cultural traditions, or important national figures.
Publish: This feature is used with the rosters to allow you to prepare a roster without it being accessible by the rest of the system (including employees) until it is complete and should be pushed to staff.
Q
Qualifications: A record of achievement that an employee can hold that fulfils a required function within the business. An example of this may be a first-aid certificate.
R
Rates (Time sheet): A facility to allow the overriding of the standard hourly rate for a set period of time within a time sheet record.
Rate Set: Provides a method or entering the minimum hourly rates for a category of employment, that when linked to an employee and run through payroll are checked to advise the payroll officer of required updates.
RDO: Also known as "Rostered Day Off" this refers to when an employee has an agreement where they put in additional work hours, to take leave at a later date, usually already indicated in the roster schedule.
Recall To Work: refers to a situation where an employee is required by their employer to return to the workplace (or another designated location) outside of their ordinary working hours, typically after having left work for the day. This is sometimes considered as an overtime condition and paid at a higher rate.
Registered Agent: a tax or BAS agent who is formally authorised to report payroll information to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) on behalf of a business using STP-enabled software.
Reimbursement: Refers to a compensation for expenses that they have incurred on behalf of another party, typically in a business context. This can include the repayment of costs related to travel, supplies, or other expenditures that were necessary for the completion of work-related tasks or projects. Reimbursement procedures often require the submission of receipts or invoices to verify the expenses claimed, ensuring that the reimbursement is justified and accurate.
Reportable Employer Super Contributions (RSEC): Refers to the contributions made by an employer to their employees' superannuation funds that are required to be reported to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). These contributions can include both mandatory superannuation guarantee contributions and any additional payments made by the employer. RSEC are important for both compliance with superannuation laws and for the employees' retirement savings. Employers must accurately report these contributions to ensure that employees receive the correct benefits and to maintain transparency in their financial dealings.
Role: The specific position or function that an individual or entity holds within a particular context, organization, or system, often accompanied by a set of responsibilities and expectations that guide their actions and contributions. Within ClockOn Roles can be defined against locations and employees for usage in the roster.
Rollback: A feature to allow users to reverse a payroll in the system. Note that by doing this, amounts paid to employees and submissions to the ATO via STP are not also reversed.
Roster: A feature designed to enable system users to efficiently schedule staff members, facilitating better management of work hours, shifts, and overall staffing needs.
Roster Costs: A feature within the roster to essentially run payroll calculations to get an estimation of the cost of the roster. Note that this estimation is done on rostered times only so amounts at payroll that include actual times or additional allowances will not be included.
Roster (Employee View): A roster layout view type that shows the employee's names down the left of the display to allow users to see their hours worked vs their working week (as defined in their employee profile)
Roster (Role View): A roster layout view that shows the location roles in the left of the screen. Shifts can be assigned to fit into these roles to ensure that the business requirements are met, for example; a Monday shift may have a requirement for 3 floor staff.
Roster (Templates): An option within the roster system to pre-build a series of shifts for fast deployment to a period on the roster.
Rounding: Rules that can be implemented to assist with converting time sheet times to payroll costings by reverting paid times back to a set time bracket rather than paying to an individual minute. Some brackets include to prevent the payment of time worked before the shift start or after the shift end, revert to the shift start or end if clocking within a time window, or to simply round the times to ensure that they are paid to a specific minute block ie to the nearest 10 minutes. These settings reside in the employees linked rule set.
Rule Set: A list of pay rules that are applied to the employee at payroll. This controls items such as time sheet rounding, overtime and penalty conditions, leave accruals, and super entitlements.
S
S.I.C.: Used to categorize the type of business or industry a business operates in—like manufacturing, retail, or healthcare—not the roles of individual employees. A list of these codes can be found here.
Salary: The amount of money paid to an employee for their work, typically expressed on an annual or monthly basis, which compensates them for their skills, expertise, and contributions to the organization.
Salary Sacrifice (Employee): A financial arrangement where an employee agrees to receive a reduced salary in exchange for benefits or perks, such as additional superannuation contributions, a company car, or other non-cash benefits. This arrangement can lead to tax savings for both the employee and the employer, as the sacrificed salary may lower the employee's taxable income. It is important for employees to understand the implications of salary sacrifice on their overall remuneration and benefits.
Salary Sacrifice (Super): An arrangement where an employee agrees to forego a portion of their pre-tax salary in exchange for additional benefits, such as increased contributions to their superannuation fund. This can be a strategic move to enhance retirement savings while potentially reducing taxable income. The contributions made through salary sacrifice are generally taxed at a lower rate than regular income, which can lead to significant tax advantages for employees. It is important for individuals to understand the implications of this arrangement, including how it affects their overall compensation and retirement plans.
Secondary Manager: Similar in function to the Primary Manager this allows for an additional employee that can do items such as review assigned onboarding items, time sheets, and leave requests
Self-Managed Super: A type of superannuation fund that you manage yourself, providing you with greater control over your retirement savings and investment choices. It allows individuals to take charge of their financial future by directly investing in assets such as property, shares, or cash. However, managing an SMSF also comes with significant responsibilities, including compliance with regulatory requirements and maintaining accurate records.
Shift: In the context of ClockOn this refers to a scheduled period of work, where employees are assigned to a specific task and hours for expected work.
Shift Worker: An individual who works in a non-traditional schedule, often covering different hours throughout the day or night, rather than the standard 9-to-5 work hours. These roles can be found in various industries, including healthcare, manufacturing, and customer service, where operations need to be maintained around the clock. Shift workers may experience unique challenges related to sleep patterns, work-life balance, and social interactions due to their irregular schedules and often have additional payment conditions under award agreements.
Sick Leave: See Personal Leave.
Single Touch Payroll (STP): An Australian government initiative aimed at streamlining the payroll process for employers and ensuring accurate reporting of employee pay and tax information to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Under STP, employers are required to report employee payroll information, including salaries, wages, superannuation, and tax withholding, on each pay cycle, rather than on a quarterly or annual basis. This initiative helps to simplify the payroll reporting process and promotes compliance with tax obligations.
Special Annual Leave: A ClockOn subset of annual leave to allow for an additional accrual bucket for time worked on Sunday or public holidays. This also allows for an additional percentage to be applied on time taken on public holidays.
Special Rates: An option for time sheets to allow an override of the employee's base hourly rate to be applied to a period of time within a shift. As this affects the base rate, other additional items such as casual loading is applied afterwards. Standard penalty and overtime rules will also apply unless specifically indicated.
Statutory Annual Leave: Refers to the legally mandated time off from work that employees are entitled to each year. This leave is designed to provide workers with a necessary break to rest and recharge, ensuring their well-being and productivity. The specifics of statutory annual leave, including the duration and eligibility criteria, can vary based on local labor laws and regulations.
STP Intermediary: Refers to a financial facilitator or entity that plays a crucial role in the Straight-Through Processing (STP) system. This intermediary efficiently manages and processes transactions without manual intervention, ensuring that trades or transactions are executed smoothly and rapidly. By streamlining operations, STP intermediaries help reduce errors, enhance speed, and improve overall transaction efficiency in financial markets.
STSL: An umbrella term for the Study and Training Support Loans Program in Australia, which includes the HECS-HELP scheme for higher education, as well as other loans for vocational training and apprenticeships. When you earn above a certain threshold, your employer deducts a portion of your income for these loans to be paid to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
Software ID: A unique identifier generated by your payroll software that identifies that specific software instance to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). ClockOn operates with a different solution that doesn't require this to submit STP records to the ATO.
Subscribed Licenses: The number of licenses that have been purchased against a ClockOn organisation instance. This forms the calculation for the amount that the customer will be invoiced for and is also the maximum number of employees that can be added to the system. customers can increase\decrease this through the subscription manager.
Subscription - Outsourced Payroll Service (OPS): A tier of service provided by the ClockOn team that can ensure that businesses can streamline their payroll processes while maintaining compliance with all regulatory requirements. This service includes handling employee salaries, tax deductions, benefits administration, and reporting, allowing companies to focus on their core operations and growth. With a commitment to accuracy and confidentiality, OPS is designed to meet the diverse payroll needs of organizations, regardless of size or industry.
Subscription - Starter: The lowest tier of service that allows customers to use the system for up to 20 employees without payment. Access to advanced features such as the rosters, integrations, or employee HR are not available and the use of this tier is limited based on 1 year of use or a total of 27 STP submissions, whichever comes first.
Subscription - Professional: Aimed at customers that would like the highest level of system functionality, this premium ClockOn tier, this contains everything provided in the standard package, with the addition of the rostering addon and also allows access to the HR components such as the advanced employee onboarding and the employee self-service portal.
Subscription - Standard: This tier of service gives a greater level of functionality than the Starter package and allows for the generation of export files such as the ABA bank upload file to make employee payments simple. this tier also allows the purchase of additional addons such as rostering and MYOB/XERO integrations.
Subscription Manager: A central point for customers to manage their current subscription, addons, license counts, and payment details.
Super: Short for superannuation, which refers to a retirement savings plan designed to help individuals accumulate funds for their retirement. In relation to payroll super payments can be contributed to the employee's fund based on the companies SGC requirement or by the employee as a co contribution.
Super Clearing House: A financial institution designed to facilitate and streamline the clearing and settlement of various transactions, such as payroll super payments to the appropriate employee funds, ensuring efficiency and accuracy within the financial system.
Super Co Contribution: Represents an after-tax amount that an employee can set aside from their payroll earnings to direct to their superfund.
Super Guarantee (SGC): The Super Guarantee Charge (SGC) is a legal requirement in Australia that mandates employers to contribute a minimum percentage of an employee's ordinary time earnings into their superannuation fund. This is designed to ensure that employees save sufficiently for their retirement.
Superstream Alternate File Format (SAFF): The Superstream Alternate File Format (SAFF) is a specialized data format designed for efficient processing and transmission of streaming data. For the purposes of ClockOn it facilitates the generation of a file that can be uploaded to a super clearing house to assist with making the transfer of payments to employee funds as seamless as possible.
T
Tax: A portion of income that is directed back to the government to pay for society's infrastructure. In relation to payroll, this is an amount that is deducted from the employee's gross earnings and held by the employer to be paid to the ATO.
Tax Agent: A professional who is qualified to prepare and file tax returns, provide advice on tax-related matters, and represent clients in dealings with tax authorities.
Tax Allowance/Rebate: An allowance type that is used to either reduce (rebate), or allocate additional tax within payroll with the end result to either increase or decrease the employees net pay.
Tax Category: A setting located on the employee profile that advises the system on which tax scale the payroll should use when calculating the employees wages.
Team: A category that employees can be allocated to to be assigned to complete certain tasks, an example may be an IT team being allocated to set up a PC for an employee during the onboarding process.
Termination: The act of finalising an employment within the ClockOn system. This forms two parts, the first being the indication of termination on the employee's profile and the second being the processing within payroll, which allows for the payment of items such as leave balances and ETP.
Time In Lieu: A policy or practice where employees can take time off from work as compensation for extra hours worked beyond their regular schedule. Instead of receiving additional pay for overtime, employees may accumulate hours that they can use later as paid time off. This arrangement allows for greater flexibility in managing work-life balance and ensures that employees are compensated for their time while also providing them with an opportunity to recharge and rest.
Training: In the context of developing skills and knowledge, training refers to the systematic process through which individuals learn and acquire the necessary competencies to perform specific tasks or activities effectively. It can encompass a wide range of methods and practices, including workshops, seminars, online courses, and hands-on experiences. Training aims to enhance performance, increase productivity, and foster personal and professional growth.
U
Unavailability: Represents time in which the employee has indicated that they are not able to work. This is useful when rostering staff as it will show a note to indicate the potential conflict on that day.
Union Fees: The payments made by members to support the activities and functions of the union, which may include collective bargaining, representation, and various member services.
Up Skilling: Refers to the process of learning new skills or enhancing existing ones to improve one's abilities and increase employability in a competitive job market. This can involve formal education, online courses, workshops, or self-directed learning. It is essential for individuals to stay relevant in their fields and adapt to the evolving demands of the workplace.
V
Vocational: A vocation is a job or career, so something vocational is related to a specific kind of work. There are vocational schools that train people for jobs, which might be what you think of when you read the word vocational, though it could describe anything related to working.
W
Wages and Salary: Refers to the compensation that employees receive in exchange for their work. Wages are typically paid on an hourly basis, while salaries are often provided as a fixed annual amount. Both forms of compensation play a crucial role in the employment relationship and can vary significantly depending on factors such as the industry, level of experience, and geographical location. Understanding the difference between wages and salary is important for both employers and employees, as it affects budgeting, tax obligations, and overall financial planning.
WGEA: The acronym WGEA stands for the "Workplace Gender Equality Agency," an Australian government agency that promotes and ensures gender equality in the workplace. It provides tools, resources, and guidance to organizations to help them achieve gender equity, and it also collects and analyses data on gender equality in the workforce.
Withholding payer number (WPN): A Withholding Payer Number (WPN) is a unique identifier issued by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to businesses and entities that need to withhold amounts from payments to employees, contractors, and other payees but do not have an Australian Business Number (ABN).
Workers Compensation: A mandatory employer-funded insurance providing a safety net for workers injured or made ill by their work, covering medical costs, rehabilitation, and lost income. The rules for this may vary between states and territories.
Workplace Health and Safety (WHS): Refers to the policies, procedures, and regulations that are put in place to ensure that employees are protected from potential hazards and risks while they are at work. This includes measures to prevent accidents, injuries, and illnesses that can arise from work-related activities. Effective workplace health and safety programs promote a safe working environment, enhance employee well-being, and contribute to overall productivity by minimizing workplace hazards and ensuring compliance with relevant safety laws and regulations. Organizations often conduct regular training, risk assessments, and safety audits to uphold and improve their workplace health and safety standards.
Working Holiday Maker: An individual who participates in a program designed to allow young people, typically aged 18 to 30, to travel and work in a foreign country. This experience not only enables them to earn money to support their travels but also allows them to immerse themselves in a different culture, meet new people, and gain valuable work experience. The Working Holiday Maker program is often facilitated through agreements between countries, promoting cultural exchange and understanding.
Working Week: Refers to the set of days during which employees are expected to perform their job duties and responsibilities. It commonly spans five days, usually from Monday to Friday, but can vary depending on the industry and specific workplace policies. The settings for this are important for items such as the generation of timesheets on leave request approvals, and employee termination tax and payment calculations the settings for this are located on the Working Week tab on the employee's profile.
X
XERO: A cloud-based accounting software designed for small to medium-sized businesses, offering features such as invoicing, payroll, and expense tracking. It enables users to manage their finances efficiently from anywhere with internet access. ClockOn provides an integration to allow users to send either payroll calculated costings or payroll journals to the
Y
Year To Date Balances (YTD): Represents the employees accumulated payroll earnings within a selected financial year. This information is used to report to the ATO at the point of the EOFY submission.
Year To Date Opening Balances (YTD): Usually only entered when migrating from another system to ClockOn, this represents a baseline of earnings for the employee and is generally used to ensure that the correct YTD balance is shown on the employee's payslips. The amounts can also be pushed to STP, but this is only advised if the previous system was not submitted through STP.
YTD Allowances: A method of making corrections within payroll that do not reflect against the payroll totals. A use case for this could be to fix an allowance where it was processed to gross wages where it should have been sent to an STP allowance type.